Stan Abramson is counsel in the Washington, DC office of the Arent Fox law firm, where he co-chairs the life sciences group. He assists clients in navigating federal and state regulatory programs for agricultural, industrial and consumer products, including products improved through modern biotechnology and other emerging technologies. 

Stan’s practice is focused on food safety, environmental law and chemical regulation. He has over 35 years of experience in risk-based programs, including more than five years with the US Environmental Protection Agency, where he served a s Associate General Counsel for Pesticides and Toxic Substances and was a principal drafter of the federal government’s Coordinated Framework for Regulation of Biotechnology. He represents clients in federal and state enforcement and legislative proceeding s, defends challenges to chemical and biological products, develops corporate compliance and product stewardship programs, and conducts environmental audits and due diligence reviews.

Gail Bingham is President Emeritus of RESOLVE. Gail currently serves as the chair for the Missouri River Recovery Implementation Committee and convener of the Lead Service Line Replacement Collaborative. She has mediated environmental, public health and ot her policy issues since the late 1970s and is the 2006 winner of the Mary Parker Follett Award of the Association for Conflict Resolution. Gail is the author of numerous publications including "When the Sparks Fly: Building Consensus When the Science is Contested" and Resolving Environmental Disputes: A Decade of Experience. She is a founding member of the Center on Environmental Policy's advisory board at American University and serves on the advisory board of the Haub School of Natural Resources at the University of Wyoming. Gail studied anthropology at Stanford University and received a BS in environmental planning from Western Washington University.

Paul Bugala is an independent sustainable investment analyst who helps create avenues for capital markets investment, public policy, and international development to reflect the materiality of human rights and environmental responsibility. He has worked for more than ten years on ESG integration, sustainability and rights-based development in the oil, gas and mining industries at Calvert Investments (now part of Eaton Vance Corporation), Oxfam America, and as an independent investment analyst. He has also taught a sustainable finance class in the MBA program at The George Washington University School of Business. Before that Paul was a telecommunications industry analyst, marketing executive, and journalist. He is a member of the multi-stakeholder group that is implementing the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) in the U.S. and of Amnesty International USA’s Business and Human Rights Group.

A founding partner of The Whitman Strategy Group, Jessica Furey is a regulatory expert with more than two decades of experience as a senior policy and legal advisor in the field of energy and the environment. She has worked extensively in the private and public sectors to promote environmental stewardship, sustainable and innovative business strategies, and clean technology promotion. Prior to joining WSG, Ms. Furey was the Associate Administrator for EPA’s Office of Policy, Economics & Innovation, helping to manage the Agency’s major regulations and interagency review process. She also served as Counselor to the Administrator, working on a wide range of issues, including complex rulemakings and cleanups, policy and guidance development, and enforcement matters.

From 1991-2001, Ms. Furey held a number of high-level legal and policy posts at the NJ State Attorney General’s Office and Office of the Governor. As Deputy Chief Counsel, Ms. Furey provided counsel to then Governor Whitman on legislative, policy and regulatory matters and served as liaison to the NJ State Legislature. Earlier in her career, Ms. Furey worked as a deputy attorney general in the Environmental Protection Section and handled cases in the state and administrative law courts and later served as Executive Assistant Attorney General.

Ms. Furey is a graduate of Wellesley College and the Cardozo School of Law. She is a member of the New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and US Supreme Court bars.

Stephen Harper is Global Director, Environment, Energy and Sustainability Policy, at the Intel Corporation. In that capacity, he is responsible for advising senior management and leading company influencing efforts on a wide variety of topics, ranging from chemicals management to energy efficiency, water policy and the role of Intel’s products in helping meet society’s toughest sustainability challenges. Outside Intel, Harper is widely known as a connoisseur of all things Irish, both solid and liquid. Harper serves on a number of outside boards (including the Energy Foundation, the Chesapeake Conservancy, the Center for Environmental Policy at American University and the Environmental and Energy Management Institute at George Washington University). He is an adjunct professor at American University’s School of Public Affairs. He also serves as President of the Chemical Users’ Coalition (CUC), a small consortium dedicated to preserving innovation through intelligent chemical regulation. Prior to Intel, Harper served in senior positions at Amoco Oil Company, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), ICF Consulting, and the California State Coastal Conservancy. He has served in these positions while continuing to pursue his childhood dream of becoming a professional rodeo clown. Stephen has a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Colorado, where he graduated with highest honors. He also has a Master’s in International Affairs from Princeton University and an MBA from the University of Chicago. In his spare time, he studied city and regional planning at the University of Pennsylvania.

Named 2017’s CEO of the Year, Brian F. Keane is a former advisor to the late Senator Paul Tsongas and a former congressional aide to Representative Les Aspin, and Congressman Joe Moakley. Today, he is President of SmartPower — “The Best Non-Profit Marketing Firm In The United States”. SmartPower is a Washington, DC-based renewable energy and energy efficiency company.

SmartPower’s award-winning clean energy and energy efficiency campaigns have been recognized with numerous awards, including a 2016 and 2010 Clean Air Excellence Award from the Environmental Protection Agency, the coveted Green Power Pilot Award presented by the EPA and the US Department of Energy and four Gold Awards from the Service Industry Advertising Awards (SIAA). For the past 4 years SmartPower has been awarded the "Best In Business" for its Community Marketing efforts.

Keane is the author of Green Is Good: Save Money, Make Money, and Help Your Community Profit From Clean Energy. (Lyons Press, 2012). He is a much sought-after interview and presenter on a host of issues, and is a regular panelist on "White House Chronicle", a weekly public affairs television show that appears on over 200 PBS stations and Sirius/XM radio.

Brian F. Keane is a 1989 graduate of The American University in Washington, DC, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Broadcast Journalism and Political Science.

He is a past-president of the American University Alumni Association and sits on the board of directors of the Vermont-based Clean Energy Group.

Widely recognized nationally as having keen insight and deep knowledge of the authority of the government to enforce federal environmental law, Adam Kushner is called upon by many clients to help them navigate difficult and potentially high-profile environmental enforcement, compliance, and governance issues. Adam has more than 30 years of knowledge and experiences, both in and out of government, and brings that to bear as a director of the firm's Environment Practice Group.

Adam was a federal prosecutor and the national director of EPA's air and civil enforcement programs. During the course of his public service, and continuing at Hogan Lovells, Adam has litigated, negotiated, and resolved many matters arising under the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, and the Superfund statute. Adam works regularly with refineries, petrochemical manufacturers, oil and gas producers, and other industrial concerns.

G. Tracy Mehan, III is Executive Director, Government Affairs, for the American Water Works Association (AWWA). He was an independent consultant and served as Interim President of the U.S. Water Alliance and national Source Water Protection Coordinator for the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities. He is also an Adjunct Professor at the Antonin Scalia School of Law at George Mason University and Carnegie Mellon University's Heinz College. He was Principal with The Cadmus Group, Inc., an environmental consulting firm, from 2004 to 2014. Mehan served as Assistant Administrator for Water at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from 2001-2003. He served as Environmental Stewardship Counselor to the 2004 G-8 Summit Planning Organization (2004). Mehan also served as director of the Michigan Office of the Great Lakes (1993-2001) and as Associate Deputy Administrator of EPA in 1992. He was director of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources from 1989 to 1992. Mehan is a graduate of Saint Louis University and its School of Law. Mehan served on the Water Science and Technology Board and now the Committee on the Mississippi River and the Clean Water Act for the National Research Council of the National Academies. He was also an independent expert judge for the City Water Conservation Achievement Award program (2006 & 2011) sponsored by The U.S. Conference of Mayors and its Urban Water Council.

Mehan is a member of the Environmental Law Institute (ELI) and a regular book reviewer for ELI's flagship publication, The Environmental Forum.

Mehan serves on EPA's Environmental Financial Advisory Board as well as the boards of the U.S. Water Alliance and the Great Lakes Observing System. He is also a member of the Advisory Board of the Center for Environmental Policy, School of Public Affairs, American University and a past member of the board of the Potomac Conservancy (2006-2014).

Tom Murray is Vice President of EDF+Business at Environmental Defense Fund, a leading international nonprofit organization that links science, economics, law and innovative private-sector partnerships to solve the most serious environmental problems. Tom spearheads EDF’s work with companies and investors to catalyze environmental leadership and collaboration across organizations, industries, and supply chains. EDF+Business has been at the forefront of this change for 25 years, bringing cutting edge solutions to high-impact companies – including McDonalds, Walmart, and KKR – to transform business as usual in their products, operations, and advocacy.

Tom’s team has kicked off transformations in market sectors including quick service restaurants, shipping, retail, private equity, and energy management. Notable initiatives include slashing supply chain greenhouse gas emissions with Walmart, creating a market for hybrid trucks with FedEx, raising the bar for environmental management in private equity with KKR, and launching EDF Climate Corps an innovative fellowship program to improve energy management.

Prior to joining EDF, Tom held several positions at ICF International and Jellinek, Schwartz & Connolly, where he advised government agencies and For tune 500 companies on environmental, safety and health compliance, pollution prevention, and legislative and regulatory strategy.

Tom is a frequent speaker at business conferences and his work has been featured in New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Bloomberg, Fortune, Fast Company, NPR's Marketplace and Environmental Finance. He is an advisor to the American University Center for Environmental Policy.

Tom earned an M.B.A. from The George Washington University and B.A. in Political Science from Trinity College.

Mamie Parker is the former Assistant Director of Fisheries and Habitat Conservation at the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). Prior to this position, she made history when appointed as the first African American FWS Regional Director of the 13 Northeastern states. Dr. Parker has decades of experience as a fish and wildlife biologist and as an executive.

Parker is a leader in various organizations and serves as a Board of Directors of the National Wildlife Refuge Association, Defenders of Wildlife and the Chesapeake Conservancy.

Janet Peace is the Senior Vice President of Policy and Business Strategy at the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES). She manages the center's Business Environmental Leadership Council (BELC), the largest U.S.-based association of companies devoted to climate-related policy and corporate strategies. The BELC contains mainly Fortune 500 companies with combined revenues of over $2 trillion and more than 3.5 million employees. She also manages the center’s resilience program and its analysis of market-based policy options.

Dr. Peace brings more than 20 years and a wide spectrum of experience on environmental issues to her work at C2ES. As a recognized expert on climate policy, she is a member of the Program Advisory Board for American University’s Center for Environmental Policy and a past member of both the National Research Council’s Roundtable on Climate Change Education and the Council of Canadian Academies on oil sands environmental technologies.

Prior to C2ES, Dr. Peace worked on climate policy in Alberta and taught environmental and natural resource economics at the University of Calgary. She also worked as a resource specialist with the U.S. General Accounting Office and as a geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey. She holds a Ph.D. and Master of Science in economics and an undergraduate degree in geology.

Francis J. Priznar is President of Ankh LLC (Ankh). Ankh is a boutique advisory firm specializing in helping entrepreneurs successfully launch. In this role, he has earned a reputation as “The Start-up’s Secret Weapon.”

Mr. Priznar is also Managing Director of GD Ventures (GDV) a private equity investment partnership. He oversees a portfolio of over 30 investments primarily in agriculture and technology sectors.

Francis loved his 8+ years in college studying science, engineering, business, and law. He credits whatever success he’s enjoyed to mentors, some of whom are still dispensing useful wisdom to him decades later. In return, he has mentored dozens of students, and hundreds of business leaders seeking to make a positive impact.

Mr. Priznar worked in government regulatory programs and industry but mostly as an independent consultant. So far, he has founded or co-founded six firms and three non-profit organizations, bought two businesses, sold one, and helped countless others.

In addition to being a Founding Advisory Board Member at American University’s Center for Environmental Policy, is on the Board of the University of Michigan Business School’s Student Organization — Green Wolverine.

Mr. Priznar was born on a farm over fifty years ago and, since 1987 has resided in the same house with the same spouse near Washington, DC.

Dave Rejeski joined ELI in October 2016 after serving as director of the Science, Technology and Innovation Program at the Woodrow Wilson Center.

He co-founded the Serious Games movement in 2003 and Games for Change in 2004 (http://www.gamesforchange.org/) and is interested in the use of video game technologies to help engage the public around complex system challenges facing policy makers.

Prior to the Wilson Center, he worked at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, the Council on Environmental Quality and the Environmental Protection Agency (Office of Policy, Planning and Evaluation).

He is a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA), a guest Researcher at the International Institute of Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in Austria, a member of EPA’s National Advisory Council on Environmental Policy and Technology, and board member of American University’s Center on Environmental Policy. He has been a Visiting Scholar at Yale University’s School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, and previously served on EPA’s Science Advisory Board and the National Science Foundation’s Advisory Committee on Environmental Research and Education.

Jo Anne Shatkin, Ph.D. is President of Vireo Advisors, LLC, a woman-owned business based in Boston, Massachusetts focused on regulatory and safety strategies for novel bio-based and nanoscale technology development and innovation. She has extensive experience in working with entrepreneurs to guide responsible product development and commercialization. As CEO of CLF Ventures, she worked with early stage and large organizations on new technology introduction strategies, including business planning, environmental impact assessment, and networking for financing. She develops state of the art analyses on behalf of public and private organizations to inform safe and sustainable product new development. Dr. Shatkin is an environmental health scientist and recognized expert in environmental science and policy, human health risk assessment, emerging contaminants policy and environmental aspects of nanotechnology.

Since 2005, Jo Anne has provided leadership on the responsible development of nano-and bio-based technologies, and on approaches for decision making under uncertainty. She served as an expert to several international committees on nanotechnology safety, including the joint WHO_FAO Expert Panel on Nanotechnology in Food, the Canadian Council of Academies, and the US/Russia Bilateral Commission for Science and Technology Nanotechnology Environmental Health and Safety Panel. She serves as EHS Advisor to P3Nano, the US public private partnership to advance commercialization of nanocellulose. She pioneered the use of life cycle thinking in risk analysis for nanomaterials, collaborating with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to develop several case studies that informed EPA’s risk analysis, research agenda and policies for nanomaterials. Jo Anne developed and uses NANO Life Cycle Risk Analysis to inform safe development strategies for nanomaterials, described in her book, Nanotechnology Health and Environmental Risks Second Edition (CRC Press 2012). She founded the Emerging Nanoscale Materia ls Specialty Group of the international Society for Risk Analysis, where she is a Fellow and served as councilor, and in 2015 received the Outstanding Practitioner Award. She serves on the board of the Center for Environmental Policy at American University and the University of Maine Forest Bioproducts Research Institute and was a Switzer Environmental Fellow. She is leading efforts to develop methods and standards for environmental health and safety for TAPPI and participates in the US Technical Advisory Group to ANSI on EHS Standards Development for nanocellulose. Jo Anne received an Individually Designed Ph.D. in Environmental Health Science and Policy and her MA in Risk Management and Technology Assessment from Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts and possesses a Bachelor of Science degree from Worcester Polytechnic University in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology.

Xiaomei Tan is a Senior Climate Change Specialist at the Global Environment Facility (GEF). She manages GEF’s Urban and Transport Portfolio. Her main responsibilities include to:

• Serve as a lead technical specialist for GEF’s transport and urban investment, advising GEF management and staff on strategy and interventions on policy and operational issues;
• Lead or participate in dialogues with national/sub-national governments in GEF recipient countries to develop bankable transport/urban projects for GEF investment;
• Serve as focal point or spokesperson on transport/urban issues to client countries, and other external constituencies and expert groups.

Her current portfolio includes:

• The Sustainable Cities Integrated Approach Pilot: The pilot covers transport, energy, solid waste and other key urban sectors in 27 cities across 11 countries. The total investment is $1.65 billion.
• Integrated Adoption of New Energy Vehicles: The project aims to integrate the transport system with the energy system through developing vehicles to grid and renewable to vehicles technologies. The total investment is $135 million.
• Achieving Efficient and Green Freight Development in China: The project aims to improve the efficiency of China's freight and logistics sector and reduce the sector's carbon emissions. The total investment is $165 million.